ReMix:Final Fantasy IV "Hymn to the Crystals" 4:06

It's far from over, but 2017 has already been a fantastic year for Rebecca E. Tripp on OCR, and she continues the barrage of creative, thoughtful arrangements with this serene, primarily harp & choral ReMix of the Final Fantasy prelude:

"This was my attempt to encapsulate the spiritual essence of the Final Fantasy series. I was going for a sort of mystical/reverent feeling. There are many versions of the FF prelude out there already, so it was difficult to find a new take on it in one sense. However, nobody had composed an arrangement of this main theme that emphasized the spiritual essence of the ever-prominent crystals in quite the same way -- so I used that to guide me: a feeling that this particular facet of the crystal had somehow been, for the most part, unnoticed.

This is sort of how I've been wanting to hear the song all along, emphasizing the more ethereal aspects of the games, as opposed to making the theme more grandiose or, adversely, tame and relaxing. In my mind, this could be a version of the tune that might play inside a temple in some kind of ancient magical village guarding an elemental crystal shard, such as Cleyra or Mysidia.

I used 3 harps, harpsichord, VSTs of a full choir, a soprano soloist, and a young boy soloist in this track, along with some temple bells and some mystical/spacey-sounding synths. I was sort of trying to combine the medieval aesthetic of most of the older games with the new-agey depth I have come to associate with the various alien and otherworldly races in FF, such as the Lunarians who are very knowledgeable and detached as compared with the protagonists."

What's hot? Interesting harmonies, a dynamic interplay between harp & choral elements, and a flowing, ethereal pace/atmosphere, the last being something many of the artist's works exhibit & which she excels at achieving. What's not? Well, certain bits stick out more than others, but it's tricky to get sampled choir to do this much heavy lifting in an exposed setting without having some issues. It can be done, but it might often involve compromises to the arrangement itself in order to mitigate (read: hide) some of the less realistic aspects of one's available samples. With this piece, at least, I feel like Rebecca didn't want to compromise and preferred to just accept the flaws and write the parts exactly how she wanted. That's cool, but it means some passing moments where the choral elements might distract or disrupt the experience. DragonAvenger writes:

"Some really nice textures and harmonies you have going throughout here. Really well developed! Going to agree that the chorus is probably the lowest point of the mix, since they are sitting a bit in the uncanny valley here, but they aren't so bad in the big picture. Really lovely piece!"

Liontamer adds:

"The opening "AHHH" at :18 just felt kind of there and disconnected from arranging the "Prelude" and the tone of the rest of the track, but we'll move on.

Pretty solid combinations of voices and instruments, and the vocal interplay was always interesting to listen to. No one instrument was the core focus or driver here; rather you had the plucked strings and two different vocal lines taking turns with the "Prelude" melody. It works surprisingly and effectively well. Nice work, Rebecca!"

Ditto all that; a very pared-down, choral/harp focus and wide, expansive chord voicings lend a powerful & mystical atmosphere for yet another musical journey courtesy RebeccaETripp!